Lost and Found
by Strawberry9212
Summary: Sakura was just tired. After the death of her sister, Sakura must devote all of her free time and energy into taking care of her baby niece and the house as her brother-in-law buries himself in his work. Sakura was lost. First her parents and now her sister. She needed someone to lean on. She needed someone to confide in. She needed to be found. SasuSaku
1. Chapter 1 Lost

**A/N: And I'm back with another story. This isn't really angsty like _Restrained Wants_, it's more tragedy than it is angst. I've never really written anything like this for a fanfic, so it'll be a new style for those who have read my other stories. Well I hope you like it!**

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Sakura's eyes were dead and empty as she held her dear sister's portrait in her arms.

"How tragic. Passing away in an accident. Leaving behind a widower, a daughter, and a little sister."

"The little sister is still in high school. I heard she was her guardian. So who's going to be her guardian now?"

"I have two kids already. I can't take her in."

"We're too old for kids."

"Hiro's job can't support another mouth."

"Poor her. First her parents and now her sister."

"Something must've happened in her previous life."

What did happen in her previous life? Sakura wondered as she mindlessly listened to the distant and close relatives gossiping and pushing the responsibilities off to someone else.

"How old is the daughter? Only nine months?!"

"Where is she now?"

"I heard someone's taking care of her. Someone as young as that shouldn't be at a funeral anyways."

Finally, the mourning period was over and people all dressed in black were leaving the funeral home. They all passed their condolences to the pink-haired girl who had her head bowed the entire time. She didn't want to hear their fake apologies.

They weren't really sorry for her loss.

She could see it in their eyes.

They didn't want anything to do with her.

It was the same at her parent's funeral. Her parents were looked down upon in both families. They were the black sheep in both. No one wanted anything to with them or their children.

Alone.

That's was Sakura right now.

She looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up into the puffy purple eyes of her brother-in-law. He had cried. Not in front of everyone else. But he had cried.

"Come on Sakura-chan. Let's so get Mari."

* * *

"Oh, Houzuki-san, finally. She just wouldn't stop crying no matter what I did."

Sakura took the crying baby out of the babysitter's arms, and immediately started cooing to her.

"Sorry about that Ami-san. She can no longer feel her mother's presence in this world." Suigetsu handed her an envelop. "Here, and thank you for your time."

Ami gingerly took the envelop out of his hands before bowing deeply, "I'm very sorry for your loss, Houzuki-san. I may not have met her but it sounds like your wife was a wonderful woman." Then she took her leave.

Suigetsu looked out the window and couldn't help but agree. "Yes, she was perfect."

Sakura finally got her niece to calm down just a bit as she sang the song that her sister always did to calm the crying baby down. "Hey, baby, it's okay, Auntie is here. Auntie won't leave you. Not ever," she whispered as she bounced Mari up and down in her arms.

Then she looked over at her brother-in-law. "You won't leave will you?"

Suigetsu's head snapped so quickly to the side with a furious expression that Sakura had to take a step back. "Of course not! Why would you even think that?! I would never leave Mari or you. I'm not any of your rotten relatives. Don't lump me together with such people. Sakura-chan, please don't ever think that I'll leave you ever again."

Sakura's bottom lip trembled as she tried to hold the tears back. She held Mari to her chest tighter and kissed the top of her head. These two were all she had left. She didn't want to be alone again.

She felt strong arms envelop her being as she cried into her brother-in-law's chest, careful not to squish the baby between them.

"I'm going to take care of you. Just like how it was before. I'm not going anywhere." Sakura felt the tears soaking into her hair and dropping onto her shoulder.

She couldn't speak. She couldn't say 'thank you.' She could only nod into his chest.

He has always been there for her and her sister. What was she thinking when she thought he was going to leave?

Such foolish thinking.

And there, the three of them remained in the embrace until they were out of tears. For now.

They had to live on. If not for themselves then for Mari.

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**A/N: Oh my god. I was tearing up when I wrote this. Did anyone tear up when they read it? Or is it just all in my head that this is terribly sad? Do I just have a big head in think that my writing will affect you guys in the way I want it to? Please tell me in a review =).**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Updated – 3/14/2013**


	2. Chapter 2 Too Many Things to Do

**A/N: Ooo, so I did make some of you at least almost cry. Yay! Well this time, I'm going to make you exhausted XD!**

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It was hard. Taking care of a baby and staying on top of her school work. It has been two weeks, but she still hasn't been able to adjust.

Her brother-in-law has been busy with work more than ever so he was barely home. But she couldn't blame him. He didn't want to think about it. And they needed the money. Now that her sister wasn't there to provide a second income, her brother-in-law needed to take on more hours. He was always exhausted when he came back from work. He could barely take a bath and finish dinner before he KO'ed.

Sakura was also busier than ever. She didn't have any idle time to think about anything unrelated. And even if it was super tiring, she'd rather have that than have free time to let her mind wander.

She sighed as she finally got Mari to settle down and go to sleep. She was still having fits and nightmares. It wasn't uncommon for Sakura to be woken up in the middle of the night to her cries. They had moved the crib into her room so that it'd be easier for her to take care of her niece. Suigetsu was obviously in no shape what-so-ever to be taking care of his daughter.

Sakura gently stroked the bright red hair on the babe's tiny head. She definitely looked like her mother. But she had her father's eyes. Sakura carefully bent down into the crib to plant a soft kiss on her head before straightening back up. She turned on the night light before closing the door behind her. She wanted to just leaned against the door and fall asleep. But she couldn't.

There were too many things to do. And checking up on her brother-in-law was one of them. She walked down the hall and stood at the entrance to the master bedroom as she slowly pushed open the slightly ajar door. She sighed to herself at the increasingly frequent sight.

He was only able to get into the bed halfway again.

Sakura's feet padded softly into the room and as she reached the bed, she pulled the covers out from under her sister's widower's body before draping them over him.

She tried to stop herself but she couldn't as her eyes went against her will and trailed over to the other side of the bed. Empty. Cold. Desolate.

When she was finally able to tear her eyes away from the reminder, she looked back down at her brother-in-law's face. She could clearly see the dark circles and lines of exhaustion on his face even in his sleep. She reached out the brush the bangs out of his eyes and was surprised by the sudden hand that shot out of the covers to grip her wrist.

"Ka...rin...," Suigetsu mumbled. A lone tear slid down his face.

Sakura's other hand shot up to cover her mouth as sobs violently pulsed through her body.

No! She shouldn't be thinking about this right now. There were too many things to do.

As best as she could, she pried her wrist out of the death grip it was in and rushed out of the room, slightly slamming the door behind her. She shut her eyes tightly for a few seconds before going to the bathroom to wash her face.

She splashed the ice cold water onto her face.

She needed to keep it together. She needed to be strong. She needed to be reliable until Suigetsu was back on his feet.

She needed to do this.

Taking a towel off the rack, she dried her face and then put her hair up into a high ponytail.

There were too many things to do.

Sakura went back downstairs and into the kitchen. She started by cleaning up the mess Mari had made when she didn't want to eat her baby food and wanted milk instead. After that was done, she proceeded to put away the leftovers from dinner. There were always plenty of leftovers. She was usually too busy taking care of Mari that she didn't have time to eat and when she did, she didn't feel like eating anything. Suigestsu's dinner was always left half-eaten, too tired to eat anything and no appetite at all.

After that, she washed all the dishes and put them on the drying rack. Then she started with preparing the next morning's breakfast and bentous for lunch. She was always too busy and exhausted in the morning to wake up early enough to make everything fresh. Breakfast was a simple Japanese breakfast with white miso soup with tofu and konbu, grilled mackerel, fried pickled radish, and rice. The rice was the only thing made fresh in the morning. The bentous were leftovers from dinner along with fresh tamagoyaki and sausage wieners.

After everything was cooked, packed, and put away into the refridgerator, Sakura cleaned the entire kitchen from top to bottom. There was a baby in the house. She had to make sure that everything was spotless. Sakura usually cleaned the rest of the house when she came back from school and during Mari's afternoon nap. Right now, she had to hurry to be able to finish her homework without staying up too late.

Sakura took a quick shower, not even having anytime to relax in the bath, and closed all the lights on her way to her room. She quickly and quietly slipped into the night-light-lit room. She walked over to her desk and turned on her lamp before checking up on slumbering baby. Hopefully she'll stay asleep until morning tonight.

Halfway through her math homework, shrill cries pierced through the dark of the night. Sakura dropped the pencil she was holding onto the desk before lifting her glasses with one hand and pinching her nose bridge with the other. Was it too much to ask for one quiet night?

She let out a tired and frustrated sigh. Now was not the time to complain. She got up and went to attend the distressed babe.

There were too many things to do.

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**A/N: Has anyone felt like Sakura before? Like you just want to fall asleep and never wake up ever because you just _that_ tired? Luckily, I've only been close to that point and never crossing it. **

**Thank you for the reviews last chapter! I hope you liked this chapter even to review for this one too XD!**

**Updated – 3/21/2013**

**P.S. I'm on a role with chapters right now. For those who are interested, I'm going to start posting the revamped version of _Double Personality_ soon; I'm pretty much done revamping it. **


	3. Chapter 3 A Little Help

**A/N: So did I make you exhausted with the last chapter? If I did, then awesome, if not, then challenge accepted! I'll have a second chance with this chapter XD. And then I'll make you smiiiiiile!**

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Sakura's eyelids were incredibly heavy as her head titled forward. She was falling asleep again. And that was a really dangerous thing to do on a train packed with people during the morning rush.

She really didn't get much sleep last night.

Mari was getting better now. Especially after her fever broke. It's been a little over a month now since the funeral. Mari was sleeping better and having less and less fits now. But just a few days ago, she got a fever from overworking her little body.

And now, Sakura was beyond exhausted.

Her brother-in-law still hasn't recovered from his self-torture and still continued to work himself to the bone before collapsing onto the bed at night.

The train jerked violently to the side and Sakura didn't have enough strength to keep her body upright so she could only hope that she didn't crash into a one of those notorious train perverts who would most definitely take advantage of her half-alive state.

Expecting to crash into an oversized beer belly with too much BO, her tired mind slightly registered the firm chest her head was now resting on. This one smelled very pleasant, too. She blacked out for a moment before finally realizing that she was still leaning on the stranger, Sakura finally gained enough strength to support herself.

She came eye-to-eye with a very familiar uniform. More specifically, the boy's uniform for her school. Slowly, she tilted her head up to see the face of her temporary pillow. Ah. Another familiar thing. She knew him. He was in her homeroom. But she didn't _know_ him. No one really did. He kept to himself as much as she kept to herself.

"Ah, so sorry about that," she quietly apologized before looking away and out the window on the train doors. Her–their–stop was coming up soon.

Moment's later, the train pulled to a stop and a third of the passengers got off, only to be replaced and over-packed once again. Sakura had almost tripped trying to pull herself out of the crowded train and if it weren't for her classmate again, then she would've fallen flat on her face. This time she collided with his back. She pulled away quicker than last time and apologized in the same way, "Ah, so sorry about that again."

She checked her watch. She had fifteen minutes to walk to school from the station. She wondered if she was going to get there on time. She usually got there at least five minutes early. But lately, she's been cutting it very close. She's been feeling very sluggish lately. Maybe she caught Mari's fever.

Sakura was about halfway to school when the ground suddenly rushed up at her.

* * *

When her eyes fluttered open, she recognized the ceiling of the nurse's office. She has been in this been one too many times. She saw shadows passed the curtains. One was tall and lean while the other was shorter and more voluptuous.

"She fainted from exhaustion. That girl, she is definitely over-working herself. Ever since that time."

She knew that voice. Tsunade-sensei.

"You, Uchiha. Thank you once more for bringing her here." A deep sigh. "I don't know what would've happened if you weren't there to catch her. She'd probably be sporting a nasty concussion along with a few bruises."

Sakura saw the head of the taller shadow nod slightly.

"Hmmm, she should be awake by now. It's lunch already. And you came to check up on her, so I'm sure she'll want to thank you properly."

The shadows on the curtains got bigger before the curtain was pulled aside to reveal the blonde, busty school nurse and Sakura's classmate behind her.

"Ah, there you go. Here, let me leave you two alone."

The both of them watched as Tsunade-sensei left the room before looking back at each other. They looked away again as Sakura's classmate took a seat on the stool at the head of the bed.

When Sakura finally looked back at him, she saw that he was still looking away. "Thank you," she whispered with a hoarse voice. "This is the third time but sorry for the trouble. And thank you for bringing me here." She coughed from her dry throat.

Her classmate only leaned forward to help Sakura sit up and held a glass of water to her lips. She was too burnt out to even blush at the close proximity or at the gentle hand on her back. She only took a few sips before pulling back from the glass, only to have the glass follow her lips. Sakura peeked up at her classmate through her bangs.

She saw the stern look in his eyes. Drink. He told her. Pouting slightly like a little child, Sakura took the glass from his hand and finished it all in one go. It was only then did she realize how thirsty she was. It seemed like her classmate had anticipated this and had the water pitcher ready to refill the cup.

"Thank you," Sakura murmured.

He must've deemed her functional enough or noticed that she was falling asleep again because he got up and was about to leave when Sakura's hand shot out and grabbed onto the edge of the bottom of his school blazer. When he stopped and turned back to look at her, Sakura didn't say anything and only brought her school bag onto her lap from the bedside table and took out her bentou. She offered it to him as thanks for all his help.

She had also heard his tummy growl a bit.

Sakura recalled that he usually bought bread from the cafeteria and must've skipped it to check up on her.

She didn't need it anymore, she was going back to sleep. After he took it, she said, "My name is Sakura, thank you again."

And right before he opened the door to leave, she heard him say, "I know." Then he was out the door.

Sakura stared at the door for a few moments before burrowing back into the covers. Class was important, but she was just too tired. And she needed her energy to take care of Mari once she got back home.

"Thank you, Sasuke," she murmured as she fell fast back asleep.

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**A/N: So so so, what didya think? Review worthy? Did I make you smile at the end? Please let me know! I love reviews XD**

**This was my first time doing SasuSaku in soooooo long so I'm a little rusty. The only other time I've done SasuSaku was in the first chapter of _Kisses to Remember_, even then I forgot that I wrote it until now, lol.**

**Oh, and thank you for those who reviewed the last chapter!**

**Updated – 4/2/2013**


	4. Chapter 4 Just Some Shopping

**A/N: And so, Sasuke was finally introduced in the last chapter and quite a few are interested in his character XD. Well you'll just have to wait and see! Here's chapter 4!**

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Sakura awoke again as she heard people talking outside the nurse's office. School must be over. She slowly let herself wake up before checking her watch that was on the bedside table. She sighed. Now she has to hurry home and relieve Ami-san.

She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Pausing a bit to make sure that she was truly awake, she stood up and gathered her belongings. Pushing the curtain aside, she saw that Tsunade-sensei wasn't there and must've been out. Sakura woke a little note and left it on the table before leaving the office.

Deciding that it'd be best to notify her teachers and get the work from today, she made her way to the staff room. Once there, she looked for her homeroom teacher and walked over to his desk. She bowed before saying. "Asuma-sensei, sorry I missed class today. I passed out on the way to school and Uchiha-san brought me to the nurse's office."

"Ah, Haruno, no worries, Tsunade-sensei and Uchiha told me everything. Is everything alright? All the teachers are worried about you. How is everything at home?" The bearded teacher said as he lightly tapped the end of his cigarette against the edge of the ash tray.

Sakura gave him a slight smile and a nod. "I'm just a little tired. My niece just had a fever so she was restless the last couple days."

Her teacher sighed. "We know what happened and we're all greatly sorry for your loss, but don't overexert yourself. You need to take care of yourself,too."

Sakura only nodded. After that, she went to talk to her other teachers to find out the homework for the day before leaving on her way back home.

* * *

"I'm so sorry Ami-san. I missed the train I usually take because I had to stay behind at school for a bit."

"Oh, no problem at all. I heard what happened, they called here."

Sakura could only sigh. "How's Mari?"

"She's doing much better today. She slept for the whole day and only woke up to eat a little bit of lunch."

"Thank you so much." Sakura couldn't help the small smile that spread on her face. "I don't know what we'd do without you. Thank you for all your help, even with your night classes."

"Don't worry, don't worry. I do most of my work here when Mari's asleep or when she's playing by herself, so it all works out."

Sakura gave one more bow before the babysitter left for class.

Sakura went up to her room to get Mari ready to go to the grocery store, after changing out of her uniform that is.

They were truly grateful for Ami. Before the funeral, they brought Mari to a daycare center especially for babies, since both Sakura's brother-in-law and sister were busy with work and she was busy with school. But after the funeral, they thought to save some money and looked for a babysitter instead. Since they had found Ami to look after Mari for the funeral, they asked her if she wanted to work for them part time. Luckily she said yes.

Sakura laid out the baby carrier on her bed before carefully picking Mari up from her crib and placing her on it. She quickly put some more layers on Mari before strapping her into the carrier. Sakura then strapped Mari to her front and used a blanket to cover her head from the sun or any possible wind. Mari barely shifted during the whole ordeal while sucking peacefully on her binky, she must be really tired then since she usually whines at least a bit.

Making sure that the blanket was tucked in tight, Sakura peaked into the top of the blanket to make sure that Mari was still asleep and comfortable. Then she grabbed the baby bag and put her wallet and train pass into it. Though it was a relatively quick trip to the grocery store, she had to be prepared for anything.

Sakura then went downstairs to warm up a milk bottle just in case Mari got hungry. Then she put it into the baby bag and slipped it onto her back. Now, she was ready.

She carefully bent over to slip her shoes on, with one hand supporting Mari and the other pulling out the back of her shoe to slip them on easier. With one last sigh, she locked up and left.

* * *

"Ah, Sakura-kun, good afternoon. How's Mari-chan today?"

Sakra bowed slightly to the older woman. "Mari's doing much better today, thank you for asking." With that, Sakura grabbed a cart and started her usually route through the grocery store.

The gossipy old ladies at the super market knew everything. There was no use trying to hide anything from them.

As Sakura was making her way through the bread section, she saw a pair of legs jogging up to her before she looked up. She was surprised to see her brother-in-law running up to her, slightly out of breath.

"Ah, nii-san."

After catching his breath for a bit, he finally said, "Sakura-chan, I'm so sorry. I got the message from your school really late. I had to take my lunch late. How are you? Are you okay? You should be resting."

Sakura gave him a small smile. "I'm better now. I missed class and slept all day. What are you doing here, nii-san? Don't you have work?"

"I asked to take the rest of the day off to help take care of Mari and for you to rest. You should have told me that you weren't feeling well. I would've taken some time off to take care of her."

Sakura shook her head. "You were busy with work. I didn't want to bother you."

Suigetsu took off his suit jacket and tie before reaching out to her. "Here, let me take Mari."

After the careful transfer of the baby carrier from her chest to his, he put his jacket back on and Sakura put his tie into the baby bag she was still carrying. They both made sure to check that the blanket was properly tucked in and that Mari was still sleeping. She shifted around a bit but calmed down when she recognized her father's scent.

"What else do you need to get?"

"Just a few more things." And with that, they continued down the bread aisle.

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**A/N: Just how cute is that? I've always had a soft spot for dads with their babies XD. This was a lighter chapter than the last, but it's not out-of-place, at least I think so, lol. This chapter also explains who is taking care of Mari when Sakura's at school, in case anyone was wondering. **

**No Sasuke in this chapter, but he'll come back soon, I just have to build up for Sakura first. I can't spoil you guys just yet!**

**Thank you for the reviews for the last chapter. I'm glad that I got a few more than for the first two chapters, but I'm still a little sad that there aren't more. Oh well, I'm still happy with what I got.**

**Thank you for reading and please review!**

**Updated – 4/9/2013**


	5. Chapter 5 Just a Little Longer

**A/N: Chapter 5 is heeeeeere! Is anyone excited for it?**

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Sakura gently rubbed the soaked towel on Mari's tiny legs, her other hand supporting the baby's head and neck. The pink-haired aunt gave her red-headed niece a tired smile as the tiny babe playfully kicked the water up.

It's nearing two months.

Mari was able to sleep through the night on most days now. But every other night, she would throw a fit in the middle of the night when Sakura was busy trying to finish her homework as fast as she could. Sakura can only give out a deep sigh before attending to her.

Her niece's father wasn't in any better shape.

One can easily see his sunken in cheeks, dark circles, and exhaustion lines. Even with weekends off, it wasn't enough for him to completely rejuvenate. And even on the weekends he brought work home to complete.

Sakura didn't know why he was cramming so much and in such a hurry. So she asked him one day.

"Just a little longer." Was the answer she got.

And so she waited.

With Sakura, even though it was getting better with Mari, she was as worse as ever. Everything was catching up to her. The late nights. The early mornings. The full days.

It was a miracle that her grades haven't dropped yet. And she made sure that they didn't. Sacrificing sleep was no longer as painful as it was before. But even then she wished that she was a day where she could just go to sleep early and sleep in as long as she wanted without having to worry about making sure that Mari was fed or that Suigetsu got into bed before collapsing.

Sakura picked Mari up out of the small bathing tub and placed her on the plush, white towels she had laid out on her bed. She quickly dried the tiny body off to make sure she didn't catch a cold and dressed her in her cute, pink, onesie pajamas after putting a diaper on.

Though Sakura hadn't talked to Uchiha Sasuke much after that one incident, she had a feeling that he was looking out for her. Which was ironic enough for her to laugh out loud because he wasn't one to be taking care of others when he, too, needed someone to take care of him. She wasn't calling him a child. But she could see that he was also like her. Exhausted. Tired. Lonely.

Sakura blew raspberries on Mari's baby smooth stomach, causing the baby to give out delightful giggles, before buttoning up the onesie. She played with Mari's legs before gently massaging them. Mari's purple eyes shined brightly up at her aunt as she gnawed on her fist. She was teething.

Sakura quickly noticed the action and gently tugged her hand away from her mouth. Mari started whining.

"Shhhh, shhhh, baby," Sakura cooed as she looking around for Mari's binky. Just as Mari was about to full on start crying, Sakura found it under the towel and cleaned it off before giving it to the babe. Satisfied that she was able to scratch the itch of growing teeth, Mari smiled up at Sakura. Sakura responded with a tired smile.

"You are so much work for such a tiny thing." She sighed. "But I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world." She picked her up. "Let's so see Daddy. Hm?"

With that, Sakura made her way down to the hall to the master and peeked in before walking in. As it was a Saturday night, Suigestu was able to catch up on some sleep at night and in the morning to still be awake. As the two of them approached the bed, the white-blue-haired man looked up from the book in his hands. Then he put it on the nightstand and reached out for his daughter as Sakura climbed onto the other side of the bed.

"Hey there, baby. Have you been good for Aunty?"

Mari smiled up at her daddy from behind her pacifier as she grabbed his bottom lip with one hand and stuck her finger in his eye with the other. "No, no, baby. That doesn't go there." To emphasize his point, Suigestu lightly bit down on the fingers that were in his mouth and watched as Mari only giggled at it.

Sakura giggled as she watched father and daughter interact. She looked up at them from where she laid on her side, her head resting on her bent arm. Then her eyelids began to droop until she heard her brother-in-law give out a long, tired sigh. Sakura forced her eyes open before looking up at her guardian.

"Sakura-chan, thank you so much for all you've done. I'm so sorry I've been busy all this time. After your sister's accident, I just didn't want to think about it, so I buried myself in work. Then I realized, a little too late, that I pushed everything about Mari and the house onto you. Even after I said I was going to be the one taking care of you. I caused you to overwork yourself to the point of fainting."

Sakura looked away and didn't say anything as she waited for him to continue.

"That day, last week, when I got the message from your school that you collapsed on the way to school. That was when I realized that I was being immature and running away from reality. That boy."

Sakura looked back up at him.

"They said a boy by the name of Uchiha was the one who helped you and brought you to school. I want to thank him properly. I want to show how relieved I am to know that you didn't hurt yourself any further because he was there to catch you." Suigetsu looked down at his sister-in-law.

"Will it trouble you to ask him over for dinner sometime?"

Sakura shook her head as best as she could with her head on her arm.

Suigetsu gave her a small smile that she didn't see. "I'll make sure to come home early sometime this week then. I'll let you know when."

Sakura nodded.

"Have you cried at all?"

Sakura's only response was to look up at him before looking away.

Suigestu sighed as he tickled Mari's tummy to fill the room with her giggles to cover the gloomy atmosphere of the heavy subject. "You need to cry sometime. You need to let it out."

Sakura closed her eyes before saying, "I can't. Not yet."

Then she felt the comforting feeling of her brother-in-law hand patting her head and ruffling her hair. He reminded her of her dad. It was so soothing. Such a simple action.

"I'm sorry. Just a little longer. Just a little longer and then I can relieve some of your burden."

Sakura didn't say anything as she drifted off to sleep.

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**A/N: How was it? Did you like it? Yes? No? **

**There wasn't any Sasuke in this chapter, but I promise you that he'll finally come in in the next chapter. And then we'll see how things start rolling.**

**Thank you for all the reviews! I got seven this time for Chapter 4, so that made me happy; and I also got a whole bunch of Story Alerts, Story Favorites, Author Alerts, and Author Favorites!**

**Oh and for those who want longer chapters - sorry, but this is the style of the story. So no, there won't be longer chapters. But in theory, that means that I'll update faster XD.**

**PLEASE READ! - I know I shouldn't do this, but I'm probably not going to update until I get 30 more reviews; since there are 30 Story Alerts, it'll just be one per person, or if there are any new readers out there.**

**So as of now, there are 17 reviews, and I probably won't be updating until I get at least a total of 47-50 reviews. You guys will hate me for this, but yeeeeah. Also, another reason I'll probably not be update as soon as I could is that I'm working on another new story that I haven't put up yet, and there's also Double Personality, too. And I have to work on that epilogue for Unrestrained Wants that I promised someone. So yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah...XP**

**Tootles!**

**Updated – 4/14/2013**

**P.S. Please don't hate me (T^T) hashtaggreedyforreviews**


	6. Chapter 6 Dinner

**A/N: Aish, it's been a while hasn't it?**

* * *

Thursday was the day Sakura's brother-in-law finally was able to come home early. So after the text she received at lunch, Sakura simply invited Uchiha Sasuke over for dinner like it was the most normal thing ever. And it did seem very natural to her.

"Uchiha-san, my brother-in-law asked me to invite you over for dinner tonight. He wants to thank you for all your help. Is that okay?"

Sakura waited patiently for his reply. After a few moments, he finally looked away from the window and looked up at her and nodded. She gave him a small smile and a slight bow. "Let's leave together after school then." With that, she went back to her seat to finish her bentou.

Class seemed to pass by even slower than usual as she waited for school to be over. It's been a while since they had a guest over, maybe that's why she was slightly excited. Ami hardly counted as a guest anymore, she was more of a temporary resident.

"Stand."

"Bow."

And finally, class was over. Sakura gathered her stuff and looked up to see Uchiha-san standing by her desk. She nodded to him and they made their way to the shoe lockers. It was quiet the whole way to her house. But it didn't made her uncomfortable. It wasn't awkward or suffocating. It was nice. This was the peace and quiet she had been fantasizing about for the last two months.

Sure, it was quiet for a bit right when she puts Mari to bed, but it was only a matter of hours that Sakura was fully anticipating the shrill cries that stopped her from finishing her homework any earlier than the night before. Yes, it was much better now, but Mari still had yet to calm down completely.

When it first happened, Mari would wake up crying a few times a night. After a month it dwindled down to once every night. And now after two, it was every other night. Sakura let out a tired sigh. She still hasn't had her turn to cry yet. She needed to wait patiently for it. There was no need to rush. That would only exhaust her even further.

Suigestu had told her "only a little longer" and she was going to trust him and wait a bit longer.

"Here it is, Uchiha-san." Sakura said as she walked up to her front door after making sure that the raven-haired male was following and hadn't continued walking down the street. She unlocked the door and left it open for him. "I'm home."

"Sorry for the intrusion." Sakura heard her classmate say.

They took off their shoes and went into the living room where Ami was playing with Mari on the floor. When Sakura walked in, Ami looked up to greet her but her eyes widened when she saw someone else behind the pink head. She hasn't seen a single visitor since she started working for them, so it was a pleasant surprise to see a someone other than herself in the Houzuki household.

"Ami-san, this is my classmate, Uchiha Sasuke. He was the one who helped me when I fainted."

Ami got up to bow. "Thank you so much for your help. It was truly disheartening to receive a phone call from the school saying that she fainted."

"Uchiha-san, this is Ami-san, the babysitter." The quiet male only bowed back.

Sakura picked Mari, who instantly started clapping her hands to be held as soon as she recognized her aunt, up and walked over to her classmate. "And this is my niece, Houzuki Mari." Sakura helped Mari wave to Sasuke by holding her arm.

Sakura wasn't really expecting him to do much, but when he reached over to gently hold Mari's tiny hand, Sakura felt strangely touched.

"Well, Sakura-san, I'll be taking my leave now."

Sakura pulled her attention from Uchiha-san to the purple-head. "Thank you for your hard work. I'll see you tomorrow morning then."

"Yes, until then." And then the babysitter left.

Sakura looked back to Uchiha-san to see that he had made himself comfortable on the couch without being too rude about it. She looked over at the clock on the wall. She should get dinner started soon if she wanted to have it ready by the time her brother-in-law said that he'd be back.

Looking back and forth between the kitchen and Mari's play area, she was trying to decide whether she should just cook with Mari in the baby carrier or to just let Mari play by herself. As if he could sense her indecision, Uchiha-san walked over to her and took the baby out of her arms to help her decide.

Mari, who has been scared of strangers since the funeral, made no fuss as she was held in the strange man's arms. This was not her daddy. But she wasn't scared. She only tilted her head at him, trying to figure him out with her budding consciousness.

"Thank you, Uchiha-san. Just let me know if she's too much trouble." Sakura then made her way into the kitchen to start on dinner as Sasuke sat back down on the couch with Mari.

As Sakura cooked, she only heard shrill giggles and slight deep chuckles. Who knew the quiet Uchiha Sasuke was good with kids?

"I'm home."

Sakura went over to the front door after placing the last dish onto the dining table. "Welcome home, nii-san."

Suigestu pulled at his tie to loosen it as he put his messenger bag away. Once he was back in the kitchen/living room area, he kissed his niece on the forehead and finally looked at their guest who was holding his daughter. "You must be the one who helped Sakura-chan."

Sakura took Mari from Sasuke to let him stand up and bow properly.

"Yes, that was me. I'm Uchiha Sasuke."

They bowed to each other. "Thank you so much for your help. I really wouldn't know what to do if the message was from the hospital saying she hurt her head or anything like that. She is usually very clumsy, but it seems she was even clumsier since she was very tired."

Sakura could only pout a little as he said that. Sasuke didn't need to know that. Sakura then put Mari into her high chair, put her bib on, and went to prepare her baby food.

"Come, come, Uchiha-san, no need to be so formal. Let's talk some more over dinner. I'm sure it'll be delicious as usual."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, nii-san," Sakura said as she gave Mari a spoonful of mushed up carrots. "Besides, most of the time, _you're_ too tired to pay attention to how it tastes."

Uchiha-san smirked.

"Ara, ara, Sakura-chan. I was trying to seem like a responsible adult," Suigetsu said as the two males took a seat at the dinning table.

"Well, you failed."

"Yes, yes, now let's eat and stop trying to undermine my authority as your guardian."

Sakura giggled. This was the lightest their banter had ever been since the funeral. It seems like her turn to cry was coming up soon.

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**A/N: As I promised! Sasuke was in this chapter! **

**And with the reviews thing, meh. I obviously overestimated how much the readers like this story. Oh well. But thank you to the 6 people who did review! I was still really happy to get your reviews!**

**I hope you liked this chapter and please review!**

**Updated – 5/3/2013**


	7. Chapter 7 My Turn

**A/N: Hi =)**

* * *

Sasuke didn't know why he did what he did. He could hardly be called a considerate person. So why did he help the girl he recognized as his classmate that morning?

Maybe it was because he recognized the look in her eyes or it was because of the way she had overworked herself to the point that she couldn't even hold herself up on the train. He had been there before. His brother was still there. Anybody could argue that Sasuke was still there, too.

So when her head fell against his chest, he made no move to push it off or to move away. He didn't mind it as much as he thought he would. There were no ulterior motives. She wasn't trying to flirt with him. It was truly an accident.

So when it happened the second time, Sasuke was slightly tempted to reach up and hold her against him to steady her. But they had already gotten off the train, so it was okay if he didn't.

As they walked to school from the station, Sasuke walked a few ways behind her to keep an eye on her slightly swaying form. It wasn't the first time he had seen her tired, snail-like pace on the way to school. He first noticed her tired, zombie-like walk a few weeks ago. He recognized it like a kindred spirit.

The pink hair was the primary indicator that she was his classmate, as there aren't too many people out there with such bright colored hair. It would always catch his attention when the shine shone on it in class.

Sasuke didn't know why, but he felt the need to look out for her, as someone who didn't have any help after his parents passed away, he knew what it was like to feel alone. His brother had drowned himself with work and he, even now, was still wading in deep waters with work up to his chin. Sasuke understood that he was trying to get more work to have a better income to support them both, but he wasn't there when Sasuke needed someone to tell him that it was okay. That it was okay to cry.

And so, Sasuke had missed his turn to cry by a long run. He missed it so bad that even if he wanted to see it in the distance behind him with a telescope, it'd only be a small speck of dust.

And so, when he saw Sakura's withered form tilting forward at an angle that he knew that she wouldn't be able to catch her balance again, especially in her state, he rushed forward to catch her. He didn't care that he had to bump into other people to get to the girl in time, he just cared that he caught her before she hit her head on the cement.

At the last moment, he was able to get his arms around her waist, before kneeling on the ground with her. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding when he looked over her and saw that she hadn't gotten any bruises on her knees or anywhere else.

Ignoring the stares and whispers of the passersby, Sasuke thought about what he should do now that the girl had fainted. The best choice seemed to be getting her to the school nurse. With the decision made, Sasuke carefully maneuvered her onto his back and continued his way to school. Once he got to school, he dropped her off at the nurse's office and went to class. He didn't care that he was late.

During lunch, he went to visit her without eating first. He wanted to make sure that she was okay. Shortly after he got there and after the nurse thanked him again, they saw that Sakura had finally woken up.

When she looked at him, he could see the dark circles under eyes and the exhaustion lines starting to form on her face. He recognized that look. He saw it in the mirror for months after his parent's funeral. He saw it on his brother's face.

When she offered him her bentou as a thanks, Sasuke, who never accepted anything from his admirers or anyone really, felt like he couldn't turn it down and took it. It was then when Sasuke found out that despite how tired the girl was, she could still make very delicious food.

So when she invited him over for dinner to meet her brother-in-law so that he could thank him, it only took Sasuke a few moments to agree to it. It's been a long while since he had a home-cooked meal, especially dinner. At home, it was usually convenience-store-bought packaged bentous that were really getting boring. Itachi was took tired to cook and Sasuke was in no mood to cook.

As they made their way to her house, Sasuke realized how comfortable the silence between them was. He wasn't much of a conversationist to begin with, but sometimes even he felt the need to fill the silence. When he stepped into her house, he couldn't help but feel welcomed. But he could still detect the underlying sorrow and restlessness and exhaustion in the air.

When he saw the baby, he instantly knew why she was even more tired than he was before. He could only guess how tiring it was taking care of a baby as a student, much less a baby who just lost her mother.

It wasn't that hard of a decision to offer to take care of the baby while his classmate cook dinner.

Though he had never really taken care of or even played with a baby before, it was soothing to hear her giggles as he played with her. A few chuckles even escaped as the little baby tried to use his face as playdoh, her tiny palms patting his face to shape it.

When Haruno's brother-in-law came home, he almost thought it was his own brother coming back exhausted from work. Now he fully understood the situation at home for Sakura. But when he heard their seemingly light banter that camouflaged deeper meanings, he felt that they would recover much easier and much faster than him and his brother.

When he looked over at Haruno, he saw a girl patiently waiting for her turn to cry. She was just waiting for a signal to let the dams open. And Sasuke felt like he needed to be there with her when she did finally let everything out.

Maybe that'd help him let everything out, too.

And just maybe he hadn't missed his turn yet.

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**A/N: How was it? Did it surprise you a bit? A whole chapter from Sasuke's POV?**

**Updated – 5/25/2013**


	8. Chapter 8 Lunch Date

**A/N: Hi =)**

* * *

Sakura shifted Mari in her baby carrier as Sakura paid half of her attention on the passing train stations. Mari was looking around everywhere, curious about what everything was, and was smiling and laughing at everyone who smiled and waved at her. Sakura smiled back at those who were finding Mari to be really cute.

Sakura was already used to the stares. A young girl with a baby. They could be sisters. Or she could be a really young mom. If she was wearing her school uniform then they'd automatically assume that she was teenage mother. Some would frown at her or shake their heads. And whispers would be everywhere.

That's why she never wore her uniform when taking Mari out.

She gathered everything when she saw that the train station was coming up.

When she got off the train and out of the terminal, she saw him waiting there like he said he would.

She and Mari were going to Uchiha-san's place today.

When she saw him, she lightly noted how good he looked in casual clothes. She tilted her head to side a bit as he walked up to her. How come she never noticed how tall he was before? Was she really that tired? But that didn't make any sense. They were classmates even before the funeral. Guess that shows just how much attention she paid him.

She thanked him when he took the baby bag and other bags she was carrying from her. He smiled at Mari who giggled and smiled at him excitedly while kicking her short little legs; she remembered him. Sakura smiled and duly noted how the three of them must've look like a family, if the gossiping elderly women were anything to go by. They were whispering and smiling to each other while looking in their direction.

Sasuke said nothing as he led the two of them to his house. His brother was at work today so it'll just be the three of them. He sighed inwardly, it used to bother him that his brother worked on weekends, too, but now, he only shook his head at it.

Sakura looked around, trying to memorize the way to his house from the train station just in case she was to go over to his place again.

The reason for today's visit was quite random, if Sakura said so herself.

It's been about a week since she invited him over for dinner and then the other day at school, he walked up to her and invited her over for lunch. But the twist was she was to provide the lunches. Apparently, Uchiha-san couldn't cook anything to save his life. Sakura laughed out loudly, causing their classmates to look at them, when he told her that. She could even detect a small splash of pink across his cheeks.

And so, here they were, walking to his house, with him carrying Mari's baby bag and the bag with the promised lunch. They reached his house and Sakura briefly looked over the outside before following him in. Sakura took off her shoes and Mari's, the tiny babe was starting to learn how to walk. She could walk for the most part but she was still wobbly, so it was best for Sakura to still carry her around places when they were out.

Uchiha-san gave them a short tour of his house and then directed them back to the living room. Sakura smiled at the small play area he had set up for Mari. On the hardwood floor was a plush light navy blanket with a small emblem on one of the corners. Sakura carefully took off the baby carrier before unstrapping Mari out of it.

Mari, who was getting restless from being carried, immediately got on her hands and knees and crawled around, exploring this new environment. Sakura sat back and looked around to make sure that there was nothing Mari could hurt herself on or easily swallow before looking up at Uchiha-san who was looking down at Mari from where he was standing.

"Thank you, Uchiha-san, for doing this."

Uchiha-san shrugged. "It was nothing." He went over to sit on the couch.

Sakura took out some of Mari's toy from her baby bag before joining Uchiha-san on the couch.

For the next ten minutes or so, they just watched Mari play by herself, making sure that she didn't hurt herself, because they didn't know what to say to each other.

Sasuke has never invited anyone over and he was never the talkative type to start with. Sakura didn't know what to say because she never really talked to a guy alone before and because she just didn't know what to talk about. Before the funeral, she had some friends, but they were mostly acquaintances, classmates. And most of them were girls with the occasional guy that she never really talked to one-on-one. So he was at a loss and she was at a loss.

What were they supposed to talk about?

"So–,"

"Um–,"

They both started. Sasuke smirked and Sakura giggled. "You first," she said.

"So how's your brother-in-law?"

Sakura nodded her head as she said, "Still really busy. Still really tired. Still working himself to the bone. But his eyes look brighter. And he told me 'soon'."

"'Soon'?"

"He told me to wait, before. I don't know what I'm waiting for, but I'll find out soon."

Sasuke nodded. "You next."

"Um, does Uchiha-san have any siblings?" Sakura looked over at him after briefly checking up on Mari.

Sasuke looked at Sakura before looking away. "I have an older brother, too."

"Oh." Sakura looked around as if he might just appear from somewhere within the house. "Is he home right now?

"No, he's at work. He's also really busy, like your brother-in-law."

Sakura cocked her head. "At work? On a Saturday?"

"Scratch that, my brother is even _busier_ than yours."

Sakura looked down at her hands, thinking of what that implied. She looked back up at him. "Are your parents out today, too?"

Sasuke looked away before answering. "They passed away when I was in elementary school." He looked back at her, expecting her to look away and quickly apologize. But he was slightly surprised to see her looking directly into his eyes, her eyes filled with understanding. Then he remembered that she, too, had lost her parents at a young age. She never told him directly, but he was able to figure it out.

As she looked into his eyes, Sakura saw that he was _still_ waiting for his turn to cry.

She looked away before looking back at him, a slightly teasing look in her eyes, trying to lift the mood back up, "So is that why you can't cook?"

Sasuke glared at her playfully. "You're never going to let that go, are you?"

Sakura could've sworn that she saw him pout a bit when she said with a full-on smile. "Nope, never."

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**A/N: I just thought this was a really sweet chapter and it shows some development in their relationship. Just a simple chapter.**

**Just for a bit of an explanation, when I put Uchiha-san, that's how Sakura addresses him when she's talking to her and in her head, so it shows how there is still some distance between them. And when I put Sasuke, it's more of from his POV/just not Sakura's POV.**

**How did you guys like it?**

**And thank you for all the reviews for the last chapter (heart)!**

**Thank you for reading and please review!**

**Updated – 6/3/2013**


	9. Chapter 9 The Signal

**A/N: Hi =]**

* * *

Sakura carefully sipped the miso soup from the hot metal ladle. She smacked her lips together as she judged the taste. Hm, a little more salt. She threw a pinch of salt into the pot and stirred. She tiptoed a bit to look down into the tall stock pot and watched as it boiled.

A loud shriek in her left ear startled her, making her let out her own shriek. She would've landed face first into the boiling hot liquid, and if she missed that then she still would've had a very intimate meeting with the side of the pot, but luckily someone caught her before she got too far.

Eyes wide and heart racing, she turned to see what it was that startled her only to come face-to-face with a smiling and giggling Mari. She playfully narrowed her eyes at the small babe and pursed her lips. "Mari baby," she lightly scolded. "No."

Mari only continued to laugh and giggle at her startled aunt, her purple eyes sparkling.

Sakura looked up behind her to see who it was that caught her. But then again, it could only be one person.

"You just keep saving me, don't you, Uchiha-san?"

He smirked down at her.

Sakura quickly turned the fire off for the soup before taking Mari from Sasuke. Mari wriggled around to be let down so Sakura bent down and put her on her feet. Sakura giggled at her wobbling but steady steps. Mari slowly but surely made her way back to her play area in the living room.

Sakura sighed. She could already feel the oncoming headache from when Mari learned to run. She was so not looking forward to running around after the small babe.

She straightened up and looked up at Sasuke. "Thank you again for looking after her."

He shrugged. "It's nothing."

"Are you staying for dinner?"

"Not today, my brother is actually coming home today so we're having dinner together."

"Ah." Sakura nodded. Though she had been over at his house a few times now, she still has never seen hair nor hide of his brother.

"I'm home."

Speaking of brothers. He was early. Sakura blinked to herself when she caught the slight lilt in her brother-in-law's voice. She went out to the front door to welcome him home, Sasuke followed behind her.

"Welcome home, nii-san. You're home early today." When she got there, he was still bent over from taking off his shoes, so when he looked up at her, she just knew that something happened.

His eyes were tired, but they were sparkling.

"Did something happen at work?"

He smiled widely at her, putting on show his straight white teeth. "Yes, something definitely happened today." He didn't go any further, waiting for her to ask what it was.

"And? What happened?"

"I got promoted." He held his breath, waiting for her reaction and for her to realize what that meant.

Sakura's body froze but her mind was racing. She immediately understood why he had been so busy and tired for the past three months. She understood the implications of his promotion. This was her signal. This was the green light for her turn to cry.

But she couldn't.

So instead, she smiled, laughed, and threw herself into his outstretched arms. "Congratulations, nii-san!"

Suigetsu let out a loud, joyful laugh as he spun his niece around. It was so nice to hear her laughter again. When he finally put her down on her feet, she stepped back and playfully punched him on the arm. "About time."

Suigestsu winched from the impact of her fist on his bicep. She was always a strong one.

"Kyahahaha~!" The three of them turned to see Mari standing behind them, laughing and clapping. Then Suigetsu scooped her up and spun her around, too, as he showered his sweet little baby with kisses.

Sakura smiled as she watched from the sidelines. Then she looked up at Sasuke and saw him smile, too. But she could see a hint of sadness in his smile. That, in turn, turned her smile a bit sad, too.

When Suigestu was finally done smothering his daughter with love, he kissed Sakura on the forehead. And it was then when he finally noticed Sasuke's presence. He passed Mari off to Sakura.

Sasuke offered him a handshake, "Congratulations on the promotion."

Suigetsu accepted the handshake and then pulled him in for a man hug, clapping the younger male on the back. Then he pulled back. "Thank you very much, Uchiha-san. That means a lot to me."

"No problem." Sasuke checked his watched. "Sorry, but I must get going."

Suigetsu's eyebrows furrowed, "Oh, you're not staying for dinner? Please celebrate with us."

Sakura answered for him as he went to get his stuff, "Nii-san, Uchiha-san has previous engagements. He's having dinner with his brother."

"Ah, you have a brother?"

"Yes, an older brother."

"I see, that's too bad then. I guess we'll celebrate together another time then." Suigestu nodded at Sasuke as he nodded back after putting his shoes on.

"Well, I'll be going. And once again, congratulations."

"Thank you, have a safe trip home."

"I will, I'll see you at school tomorrow, Haruno-san."

"Yes, until then."

The two siblings by law watched as their guest left after bowing to the both of them. Suigetsu wrapped an arm around Sakura's shoulders. Without looking away from the front door, he said, "He's still waiting for his turn, isn't he?"

Sakura nodded before looking up at him.

"Let's invite the two of them over for dinner sometime."

Sakura nodded again. "Yes, that would be nice."

"Come on, let's eat." Suigetsu said as he steered his niece to the dinning room, catching his wandering daughter on the way.

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**A/N: Hi (heart)! So how was it? I realized that it's been quite some time since I last updated so I'm kinda sorry about that. I've been busy and it's slipped my mind too many times for me to remember it on a whim. **

**So! How was it? They're relationship is still slowing developing and budding and Suigestu has finally given Sakura the go ahead to let it all out! But she still can't! Now, I ask you guys to watch closely as I slowly raise the tension until it all comes crashing down! Just wait.**

**For those who keep on asking for longer chapters, sorry, but the chapters will still continue to be this long. I'm keeping them this short as this is the style of writing that I decided for this story. So sorry but not.**

**And for the reviewers! Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews! I hope for some for this chapter, too!**

**Thank you for reading and please review!**

**Updated - 7/6/2013**


	10. Chapter 10 Drowning

**A/N: =D**

* * *

Sakura sighed happily as she lowered herself into the steaming hot bathtub. This was literally her first bath in over three months. The last time she took a bath was the day before the funeral. And since then it had been hop into the shower, clean herself as fast as she could, and then hop back out.

She just had too many things to do.

Namely, a baby to take care of.

But now that her brother-in-law was home earlier after his promotion, she had time to soak in the bathtub.

She pulled her knees up to her chin, wrapped her arms around her legs, and rested her chin atop her knees. She sighed. It's been a little over three months. _Only_ three months. Time seemed to drag on after the funeral. It almost became unbearable.

But at the same time, it seemed like she didn't have enough time. There just wasn't enough time to wake up early, prepare bentous for her and her brother-in-law, get Mari ready for Ami, go to school, come back home, go grocery shopping, make dinner, feed Mari, eat dinner, bathe Mari, put her to sleep, make sure her brother-in-law was in bed correctly, clean the house, take a shower herself, do homework, study, take care of a crying Mari who woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare, and go to bed in the middle of the night only to wake up a few hours later to do it all over again.

She groaned and rubbed her temples, she got a headache just from _thinking_ about all of it.

Time was such a strange thing.

It's already been three months.

Mari was finally sleeping peacefully at night, her first baby teeth were almost all grown out and her second pair were starting to grow in, she took her first steps and will soon be on her way to running around everywhere, she even said her first word a few days ago. _Mama_.

Sakura scoffed. Her sister beat out her brother-in-law even in death. That was so like her.

Her older sister was always so reliable. (-_-)...scratch that, Karin only started being reliable after their parents' death. Before that, she was a devil!

With the two of them being nine years apart, Karin was the person Sakura looked up to...and Sakura was the person Karin bossed around and teased.

Sakura didn't need to be reminded how many times her sister had made fun of her childish–although she was _still_ a child!–ways in front of her friends in elementary school. Especially in front of the cute boys. Sakura narrowed her eyes at nothing in particular. Now she realized why she was so awkward around the opposite sex. It was her sister's fault!

But all that came to a halt when they were told about their parents' death. Karin's personality did a complete one-eighty. It should've been completely foreign to Sakura as a little girl who was always ordered around by her older sister, but it wasn't. It didn't feel out of place at all.

Maybe it was because Sakura knew all along that despite her sister's evil ways, Sakura knew that Karin loved her and cared for her as her baby sister.

So after their parents' death, Karin, who was only seventeen at the time and wasn't of legal age to become Sakura's guardian, solemnly left her baby sister in the care of one of their more trustworthy relatives. Then she thew herself into her studies, graduated high school at the top of her class, got accepted into a top-notch college, graduated early, once again at the top of her class, and found a high-paying job before becoming Sakura's guardian as soon as she turned 20.

The night they were finally reunited, they slept together in the same bed and just held each other. Sakura remembered balling her eyes own and the gentle hand of her older sister running through her hair, whispering to her and promising that they'll never get separated ever again.

Liar.

Sakura clenched her fists and aloofly watched the ripples caused by the motion spread out until they hit the sides of the tub.

She had promised and yet, today she wasn't here to hear about Sakura's day or to see Mari's smile or to receive Suigetsu's kisses.

What a liar.

Sakura laid down in the tub and submersed herself in the water. She looked up at the bathroom ceiling through the water and saw how unclear it was. She tried to focus on the tiles on the bathroom wall but couldn't. Was this how her life had for the past three months? Or even for the past eight years?

Her lungs were starting to strain from the lack of oxygen, but Sakura didn't sit back up yet. She needed to think.

Was this her outlook on the world after her parents' death? Unclear and unfocused? Is this why she asked the ridiculous question of whether or not her brother-in-law was going to leave her after the funeral? Is this why she understood Uchiha Sasuke? Was this his outlook, too?

Her chest felt hot, Sakura struggled to hold her breath a bit longer.

Was she slowly drowning herself from her obscured view of the world?

Was she killing herself?

She yelled out "NO!" into the water and accidentally took in a breath. Sakura quickly sat up and choked on the water that got into her lungs, breathing heavily as her lungs greedily took in as much oxygen as they could. She gripped the sides of the bathtub to keep herself upright.

_KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK_

"Sakura-chan! Are you alright?!"

Sakura breathed in too fast and took a bit more water into her lungs, causing her to choke some more before she was able to answer her frantic brother-in-law's call. "Yeah! I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm okay."

"Okay then." Sakura listened closely to her brother-in-law's footsteps walking away from the bathroom door.

Sakura quickly grabbed a towel and got out of the tub lest she wanted to really drown herself in her lightheaded state. She stood in front of the mirror, dripping water everywhere, staring into her reflection. She had felt a tickling sensation behind her eyes but no tears spilled out.

Her eyes were red but that was from getting water _into_ her eyes.

She still couldn't cry yet, even if her brother-in-law had pushed her closer. It still wasn't her turn yet.

But in all honesty, no one could tell if the water on her face was from the bath or from tears running away from her eyes after being trapped in her tear ducts for the past three months. Or even for the past eight years.

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**A/N: How was it? Intense? Do you guys feel the tension building?**

**Well, hopefully you do, 'cause that was what I was trying to do, lol. If you guys didn't feel it then it's fail on my part XD**

**And as always, sorry but not sorry, this will be the length of the chapters throughout the whole story.**

**Thank you for the reviews for the last chapter! I hope to hear from you guys again!**

**Updated – 8/20/2013**


	11. Chapter 11 Buttons to be Pushed

**A/N: Hi XD!**

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Sakura giggled as Uchiha-san writhed on their living room floor after Mari did a brilliant quarterback's throw at his privates with her favorite wooden bowl. Luckily, said bowl was already empty of Mari's favorite cereal, but Uchiha-san wasn't so lucky as he was standing only a few feet away from her and took full brunt of the hit.

"I'm sor–hahaha–I'm really am–haha–I didn't mean to–haha!" Sakura couldn't stop giggling long enough to explain that she was laughing at his facial expressions and not his pain.

Sasuke glared at her, which only made her laugh even more; Mari's high-pitched baby giggles and babbles sounded alongside hers.

"Okay, whuuuuuuuu, okay, I'm okay now." Sakura reached down to give him a hand up from the floor. "Really, I didn't mean to laugh at you." She struggled a bit to pull him up. "But your face–ha!"

The face he was making right now wasn't helping one bit. It consisted of a glare with a bit of a blush and tussled hair from his sudden meeting with the floor.

Sakura laughed even harder when Sasuke wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, lifted her up, and spun her around.

"Kya! Sasuke, stop! Hahahahaha! Put me down!"

"No, not until you apologize."

"But I already did! Hahahaha! Stop! Sorry! Sorry! Put me down! Hahahahaha!"

Sakura's feet finally touched ground again and she almost lost balance from getting dizzy. But good thing Sasuke foresaw that and didn't let go of her just yet, or else Sakura would've timbered over onto Mari in her little baby walker, which would've hurt Sakura more than it would hurt Mari.

"Oh my god. Whew, I'm tired." Sakura plopped down onto the couch after Sasuke set her free.

It was Saturday and Sasuke was over at their house to hang out and to have lunch. Both their brothers were busy at work. Sakura's brother-in-law was at work on the weekend only because he was recently assigned a huge project, just two weeks after his promotion, so he was doing his best to prove his worth. Sasuke's brother was at work on the weekend because he was always at work. And so, the two of them had come to terms with that and started arranging days where they could just be not alone.

Though, technically, Sakura wasn't alone since she had Mari, but Mari wasn't yet capable of conversation, so it was still the same as being alone. And though Sasuke didn't mind being alone, after meeting Sakura, he felt like he wanted to be with her more. Especially after two weeks ago, when her brother-in-law gave her the go-ahead to cry and to let it all out.

Since then, Sasuke's been watching her closely, waiting for her to reach that breaking point and to finally let go of all the pent up frustration, grief, anguish, and heartache. But so far, it looked like the only thing Suigetsu's little push did was push Sakura to hoard even more of her negative emotions away into her body, not letting even a bit of sadness, tiredness, or anger seep through.

That it, until now. Not saying that Sakura was showing any of said emotions right now as she pulled a sleepy Mari out of her baby walker to take her to her crib for her afternoon nap, but Sasuke was going to provoke her and he was going to purposefully poke at all her sore wounds and bruises.

Sasuke followed Sakura to her room to put Mari into her crib. As he followed her, he examined her from behind. He could see the protruding vein from the back of her neck from the lack of rest, the strain in her shoulders from not resting properly and having to carry Mari everywhere she went, if Sasuke looked hard enough, he could see how skinny and slightly bony Sakura was through the back of her shirt, and he could see the dry skin on the bottom of her ankles from not having time to pamper herself.

He stopped at the doorway as Sakura continued into her room and set Mari into her crib before raising the guardrail.

Sakura reached into the crib and smoothed out Mari's bangs before saying. "Can you please stop staring holes into my back?" Her tone taut and slightly harsh.

Sasuke fought the urge to look away immediately. Her tone kind of scared him a bit. But he was doing this for her own sake, and so he looked on and didn't lower the intensity of his gaze. He was already getting some kind of reaction out of her. This should be a good thing.

Or not.

Sasuke took a step back when Sakura whipped around, her eyes silently blazing, testing his resolve. Oh she knew what he was up to. And she didn't look one bit happy about it.

Yep, definitely a reaction. And the type of reaction Sasuke was looking for.

"And what if I say no?" Sasuke straightened up a bit to strengthen his slowly crumbling resolve. He didn't want to make her mad but if that was what it took then he had to do it. Though this was probably not the best way to go about it, he felt like this would be the fastest and most effective. And so, he continued his attack. "What if I said no?" he repeated.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him as she brushed past him to go back to the living room, she didn't want to disturb the baby.

Sasuke rubbed his lightly injured chest. That was going to bruise later. Who knew that Sakura was prone to violence when she was angry? After closing the door to the room, he followed Sakura back to the living room. Once he got there he saw that she was cleaning up Mari's toys which she had also launched at him earlier.

It seemed like violence ran in the family as little Mari laughed her head up every time one of her toys hit its target. Sasuke.

Maybe Sakura let Mari do that because she knew that Sasuke was going to try and get a reaction out of her later.

"I know what you're trying to do." Sakura picked up the last of Mari's toys and dropped them into her toy bin. "Please stop."

"Why?"

"Please. Just stop."

"No." Sasuke's voice was firm. He wasn't backing down now. "I need to do this."

Sakura kept her back to him as she turned her head over her shoulder to look at him in the corner of her eye. Her body language screamed "defensive!"

"I'm doing this for your own good."

Sakura didn't know why, but she was irrationally angry at that one phrase. She spun around and started throwing her anger at him before she even knew it.

"For my own good?" She looked at him with enraged incredulity. "For my own good?" She repeated. "What the hell do you know what is good and isn't good?"

"You need to release all of your pent up emotions. You've been through a lot, I know that."

Sakura scoffed. "You do _not_ know what I've been through." She turned back around. "And I don't want to be told to "release all my pent up emotions" by someone who's even worse than me at expressing any emotion at all."

Sasuke gripped his fist. This wasn't about him. This was about her. So he had to hold back the urge to defend himself. "This isn't about me. This is about you."

Skaura whipped around again. She scoffed. "Of course it's about me. Let's all talk about this little messed up girl who lost her parents and then her sister. Let's talk about the orphan who has to take care of a baby who isn't even hers!"

She marched up to him and jabbed her finger into his chest. "I'm sick and tired of people saying that their concerned about me. They want nothing to do with me. Not my aunts or my uncles. Not my cousins. Not _any_ of my shitty relatives! Not any of my "friends"."

Sasuke tried his best not to flinch at the finger jabbing into his chest. That was definitely going to bruise later. It didn't help that she was jabbing at the same spot that she had shoved him earlier.

"Look. I can take it from my brother-in-law because he's going through the exact same thing that I am. But I don't want to hear it from a stranger that I've only just met."

Ouch. That stung a bit. No. A lot. Sasuke thought they were friends. Maybe even something closer than just friends.

He inwardly shook his head to clear it. She didn't mean these words. He should've been prepared for them since he purposely provoked her anger.

Sakura let a loud breath out through her nostrils as she gripped her fists. "I think you should leave now."

Sasuke slowly nodded. He was about to turn away when his hand reached for the back of her neck and pulled her closer. He leaned down to kiss the top of her head.

"Know that I care. I really do."

Sakura closed her eyes tightly and kept her head bowed as she nodded slightly. She was already regretting her words.

"I'll see you at school."

"Yeah," she all but whispered.

Sakura sunk down to the ground as soon as Sasuke closed the door behind him, She buried her face in her hands.

"Why am I like this?"

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**A/N: Yo yo yo! As I promised, I'm raising the tension! Raise the roof! *cough* Okay, I'll stop now.**

**We're almost there, I promise!**

**How was it? Did you guys like it? Please let me know!**

**And once again, thank you to those who left a review for the last chapter! I love love love reviews (hint hint)!**

**Thank you for reading and please review!**

**Updated – 9/9/2013**


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